Carmelo Leads Knicks To Game 1 Victory

NBA Via New York Knicks (NEW YORK) — Carmelo Anthony scored 36 points to lead the New York Knicks to an 85-78 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal matchup.

“It’s a wonderful feeling to know that we got our first win of the series here on our home court, took care of that business,” Anthony said. “It was real important for us to come out and get this first win.”

Anthony overcame a rough shooting stretch to give the Knicks their first playoff series lead since 2001. J.R. Smith helped shoulder the scoring load with 15 points off the bench.

“We had some just bad turnovers tonight,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “If we had those turnovers in any game we probably should lose the game and we did. We were making post passes from the other side of the floor. I mean, those are just not good passes.”